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O^IiETHOBPE UNIVERSITY, 



PRINTED AT THfi 
C/iNSTITUTIONAUST OFFIQI^ 

AUGUSTA, GEO. 

1835. 



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APPEAL 



IN BEHALF OF 




OGLETHORPE UNIVERSITY. 



PRINTED AT THE 
CONSTITUTIONALIST OFHCE, 
. AUGUSTA, GEO. 

1835. 



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APPEAI.5 &e. 






The Presbytery of Hopewell, at its semi-annual 
meeting held in Washington, Wilkes County, Geo., 
in August last, resolved to attempt the establishment 
of a College, to be under the control of the Presbyte- 
rian Church, and located at Midway, Baldwin County, 
in this State. 

At the same meeting of the Presbytery, after having 
laid down some principles, which are to be consider- 
ed as fundamental and unalterable, that body appoint- 
ed a Board of Trustees to whom the estabhshment and 
management of the Institution were committed. The 
members of this Board are to be elected triennially by 
the Presbytery, to which body they are to present an 
annual report of their proceedings. 

The members of the Board arc as follows : 

Minist&rs—T. Goulding, D. D., S. K. Talmage, C. 
W. Howard, S. S. Davis, H. S.Pratt, S. J. Cassels, R. 
Quarternian, J. C. Patterson, and C. C. Jones. 

Laj/men — S. Rockwell, J. A. Cuthbert, R. K. Hines, 
C, C. Mills, B. E. Hand, C. P. Gordon, J. H. Lump- 
kin, E. A. Nisbit, A. Alexander, W. Poe, J. H. Howard, 
J. Billups, W. W. Holt, T. Fort and T. B. King. 

In accordance with the instructions of the Presby- 
tery, the Board met on the 22d of October last, in 
Milledgeville. It is thought unnecessary to give to the 
pubhc, a detailed statement of the doings of the Board ; 
some of them, however, may prove interesting to the 
friends of the proposed College. They elected Dr. 



Goulding, President, and R. K. Hines, Esq. Secretary 
and Treasurer. They appointed two agents, the Rev. 
Messrs. Talmage and Howard, to collect funds for the 
establishment of the College, they decided that it 
should be named Oglethorpe University; they appomt- 
ed an Executive Committee of the Board, consistmg 
of Messrs. S. Rockwell, J. A. Cuthbert,C. C. Mdls, J. 
H. Howai'd, and T.Fort; the Committee, among other 
duties, were authorized to take the superintendence ot 
the Midway Seminary, an institution recently placed 
under the control of the Board, to provide additional 
agents, if thought advisable, and whenever a sufficient 
sum shall be subscribed to insure the success of the 
University, to collect the first instalment upon the 
subscriptions. . i i 

The Board closed its sessions with the appoint- 
ment of a committee, to prepare an Appeal to the pub- 
lic in behalf of Oglethorpe University. ^ 

In conformity with these instructions, toe Commit- 
tee now proceed to lay before the friends of religion 
and literature, some of the considerations which have 
led to an effort, involving in its successful termination 
so much labor, and so large an expenditure of money. 
In the first place, the Committee in behalf ot the 
Board would disavow all ill feeling towards the Uni- 
versity of the State. As there is already m our fetate 
a College under the government of able officers, and 
amoly endowed, the question may arise m the minds 
of some persons,whethcr another is at present needed, 
and if not needed, whether this effort has not been 
caused by hostility to Franklin College, and with the 
design of injuring it. If it can be shown that anotker 
College is demanded by the exigency of the times,tur- 
ther disavowal of such motives is unnecessary. We 
believe, that during the course of the succeedmg re- 
marks, such a necessity will appear to exist. 

Instead of injuring the State Institution, the proper 
endowment of Oglethorpe University, must beyond ail 



iloubt, materially benefit it. This opinion is based 
■upon the unquestioned fact, that wherever colleges 
have been founded by private enterprize in the vicinity 
of state institutions, the influence upon both has been 
highly salutary. To confirm this remark we need cite 
but a single instance, the effect of Amherst upon 
TTarvard College. A generous rivalry, is mutually 
beneficial to the parties between whom the rivalship 
exists. 

Could we see the proposed College, largely endow- 
ed and ably officered ; its halls thronged with students 
and rapidlv attainincr a well founded and extensive re- 
putation, the result must be, (from that principle of 
emulation which is natural to public bodies as well as 
single individuals,) to induce upon the part of the 
State, a more kind and fostering regard of the institu- 
tion, which is the creature of its bounty. Let it be so. 
Emulous in doing good, let them seek each to outstrip 
the other, in dispensing most freely and wisely, to the 
rising strength of our country, the blessings of educa- 
tion, blessings inexpressibly more valuable than gifts 
of silver and gold. 

The Committee have felt themselves bound in dutv 
to notice this subject, as the public mind is with pro- 
priety keenly alive to any thing v/liich may endanger 
the prosperity of a college established by the public 
funds ; and which has already educated for the ser- 
vice of the commonwealth, so many of its most dis- 
tinguished men. They dismiss this topic, v/ith an ex- 
pression 4^f their earnest hope that the University of 
Georgia, may long and increasingly diffuse throughout 
the State, knowledge and virtuous principles, the safe- 
guards of republics. 

The Committee propose nov/ to show some of the 
advantages which must follow a successful attempt to 
establish the College at Midway. 

It will facilitate the means of education and conse- 
quently multiply the number of educated men. 



6 

That which Georgia, at present, most needs, is the 
diffusion of useful intelligence among her numerous 
population. Favored with an ample extent of territo- 
ry, with rivers large and navigable ; with every vari- 
ety of soil and climate, and with singular adapted- 
ness of position, for all the purposes of agriculture and 
commerce, she yet holds second rank among several 
of her sister states, to whom her natural advantages 
are decidedly superior. 

Whence this inferiority? It arises in good part 
from the want of a system of education adapted to the 
necessities of the people, and all pervading in its salu- 
tary influences. Education with us, is monopolized 
by a comparatively small portion of our citizens. 
While this minority are prepared to act with the spirit 
of the day, which is emphatically the spirit of enter- 
prize in spiritual as well as secular concerns, the mass 
of the people inert, because uneducated, hangs like a 
dead weight upon their movements, and in fact too fre- 
quently prevent all efficient action. If therefore by 
any means, the facilities of mental improvement are 
multiplied, essential service is done the country. That 
the establishment of a liberally endowed university in 
the centre of the State, will largely tend to the attain- 
ment of this object, is instantly apparent to every 
mind. Upon the plan proposed in the contemplated 
College, a young man may receive, (if he will avail 
himself of the opportunity offered,) a finished collegi- 
ate education, at from fifty to one hundred dollars per 
annum. It will therefore not only increase the op- 
portunities of education, from the consideration, that 
in itself, from local causes, every new institution must 
to a certain degree, produce this result; but also be- 
cause its doors will be opened to those, who, by reason 
of poverty, are excluded from the other seminaries of 
the country. The cause of this diminished expense 
of education, w411 appear in another part of these re- 
marks, 



Another serious evil will be corrected, if the preseftt 
effort of the Board prove successful. That evil is the 
want of suitable native instructors of our youth. 

Parents, with the advance of society^ aie becoming 
every day more sensible, that cultivated intellect, to- 
gether with correct moral principle, constitute a more 
valuable legacy to their offspring than even splendid 
fortune-s. But in the execution of their praiseworthy 
desires, they meet with a serious obstacle in the outset. 
Save in our towns and villages, the intelligent school- 
master is rarely to be found ; and even in those places 
the supply is exceedingly partial. The want of teach- 
ers is the common complaint of the country. The 
planter is compelled to send his child at a tender age, 
to the village or distant academy, when he should for 
many years have remained under the parental roof, 
imbibing those principles, which none so well as the 
parent can instil into the youthful mind and which must 
be his safeguard in after years. It has been remark- 
ed by a quaint writer, that knowledge without princi- 
ple, is like the lamp in the lanthorn ; it may indeed 
give light without, but it soots and defiles the glass 
wdthin. Education unaccompanied by an enlight- 
ened moral sense, is often ruinous not only to the in- 
dividual, but to the society in which he moves. The 
parent is then reduced to one or the other of these al- 
ternatives; either to have the morals of his child, endan- 
gered by sending him from home, or from the deficiency 
of teachers to neglect altogether the cultivation of his 
mind. Either of these alternatives is distressing. Yet 
there are hundreds of parents in our State, who are 
suffering at this hour from this embarrassment. 

The Board have considered the subject, and design 
in the organization of the University to make special 
provision for the removal of the difficulties connected 
with it. 

Their plans not being yet matured,it is impossible to 
say what will be their definite mode of action ; most 



8 

probably, however, they will connect with the institu- 
tion, a branch similar in some respects to the Normal 
Schools of Prussia, which have for their sole object the 
preparation of young men for the office of teacher. If 
by making this provision they can multiply the number 
of competent teachers, they will think themselves to 
have done good to their country. 

The Board intend in the proposed College, to test 
the experiment of connecting manual labor with study. 
Various reasons might be assigned for this determina- 
tion ; as the preservation of the health of the student ; 
the connecting practice with the theory ; and the cor- 
rection of evils, growing out ©f the indisposition of 
Y/ealthy young men to physical exertion. But espe- 
cially for the two following considerations : 

1st. The common system of collegiate education is 
extremely hazardous to the morals of youth. The 
truth of this remark may perhaps be clearly illustrated 
by the succeeding quotation from the opinion of Dr. 
Lindsley, President of Nashville University, a man 
well qualified to pronounce upon this subject : " Youth 
must and will have employment of some kind. They 
cannot study ahvays. In our colleges they are usually 
suffered to devise their ov/n ways and m.eans of amuse- 
ment. They are expected, indeed, perhaps exhorted, 
to take exercise, and they are allowed abundance of 
time for the purpose. Still the whole concern is left 
to their own discretion. The time they have, and the 
question is, how do they spend it ? Often in mere 
lounging, talking, smoking and sleeping ; often in se- 
dentary games, Avhether lawful or unlawful, are always 
injurious to the student, because he requires recrea- 
tion of a different kind ; but too frequently in drinking 
and gaming, to the utter neglect of every duty, and to 
the utter abandonment and sacrifice of every princi- 
ple of honor and virtue. I will not finish the melan- 
choly picture, which I had begun to sketch, not indeed 
from fancy or from books, but from facts, which I have 



9 

often witnessed, and which have sometimes led me to 
question the paramount utility of such institutions to 
the community. Still with all their faults I remain 
their decided advocate. But may they not be improv- 
ed, or may not others be organized upon wiser and 
safer principles." 

Every one familiar with seminaries for youth is 
aware that the chief danger to the morals of the pupil, 
arises from the improper use of what are termed, his 
leisure hours. The Berne Society of Teachers, of 
which the venerable Fellenberg is President, after a 
full discussion of this interesting subject, declared it as 
their opinion, that constant employment is indispensa- 
ble to the preservation of good morals in literary insti- 
tutions. This is a desideratum which, to a great ex- 
tent the manual labor system provides. The student 
is kept constantly occupied, while recreation of mind 
and body is provided, without opportunity for vicious 
indulgence. The healthful labor of the day, prevents 
late hours at night, and the evils arising from them. 

2d. The manual labor system lessens the expense 
of education. The Committee v/ould refer the public 
to some instances of the operation of this system. 
The committee of the Lane Seminary, Cincinnati, 
Ohio, use the following language in their report on the 
state of that institution : " During the early part of the 
year, an arrangement was entered into with Messr.s. 
Covey & Fairbanks, Booksellers of Cincinnati, to fur- 
nish the students with several presses, and with stereo- 
type plates for printing Webster's Spelling Book. 
This establishment has been in operation, and now em- 
braces six presses, furnishing work for twenty students. 
About 150,000 copies of the above named vfork have 
been printed and 1,000 copies are now issued daily 
from the presses. The Students have commenced the 
printing of Dr. Eberle's Treatise on the Diseases of 
Children, a valuable medical work, which requires fine 
paper and the best workmanship ; and it is beUeved, 



to 

that in all respects, the execution of the work is highly 
satisfactory to the employers." 

In regard to the pecuniary results, the committee 
state : 

" The average amount earned by six prin- 
ters in ten months, by working three hours 
per day, $120 00 

Average amounts earned at the same rate 
in a year, 144 00 

Amount now earned by 20 students per 
week, - - 50 00 

Average amount by each student, - - 2 54 

Average amount earned by 20 students at 
the same rate per year, - . - - 132 00 

In view of these results, and the small annual ex- 
pense of the institution, it is hardly necessary to re- 
mark, that the students in this department, have the 
high satisfaction of providing the means of their own ed- 
ucation, without aid from friends, or from the benefac- 
tions of the church. This arrangement is the more im- 
portant for our young men from the fact, that a know- 
ledge of the business is easily acquired ; several of the 
students having such an acquaintance with the employ- 
ment in three or four weeks, as to be able to earn forty 
six cents per day, by working three hours daily." 

It may not be uninteresting to give the testimony of 
that committee in regard to the system in general. 
They say : " Whatever may be the theoretical objec- 
tions of good men, practically unacquainted with the 
system, to its practicability and importance, it is to the 
directors, no longer a matter of experiment, but of so- 
ber fact, resulting from three or four year's experience, 
that the connexion of three hours daily labor with stu- 
dy, in some useful and interesting employment, protects 
the health and constitution of our young men ; greatly 
augments their physical energy; furnishes to a con- 
siderable extent, or entirely, the means of self-educa- 
tion ; increases their power of intellectual acquisition ; 



11 

facilitates their actual progress in study ; removes 
their temptations to idleness ; confirms their habits of 
industry ; gives them a practical acquaintance with the 
useful employments of life ; fits them for the toils and 
responsibilities of a newly settled country, and in- 
spires them with the character and the originality of 
investigation, which belong peculiarly to self made and 
self educated men." 

At the Maine Wesleyan Seminary, the students 
generally pay their board by their labor ; some pay all 
their expenses, and some do even more than this. 

At the Oneida Institute, at Cumberland College, at 
LaFayette College, at Maryville, and in fact at most of 
the schools, the expense has been decreased in the 
same proportion. 

That the Manual Labour System, has been found 
elsewhere to be a saving system, is placed beyond all 
doubt. Whether it can be successfully connected 
with study at the South, is yet to be ascertained. The 
theory is admirable ; its practical effects, where it has 
been fairly tried, have proved themselves admirable as 
the theory. As an experiment, the Board feel them- 
selves bound by their ov/n consciences, and by the 
voice of the country to give it a fair trial. If they can 
succeed, results incalculably beneficial will follow ; if 
they fail, they have but made the experiment and sus- 
tained no disadvantage. The University will be so or- 
ganized as to allow the abandonment of the manual 
labor department, provided it does not succeed accord- 
ing to expectation. 

To the friends of literature and the south, an appeal 
is made in behalf of Oglethorpe University, on the con- 
siderations above stated ; that if successfully establish- 
ed, it will greatly facihtate the means of education, 
that it will multiply consequently the number of our 
educated men ; that it will give to us a proper num- 
ber of well quahfied native teachers, and that it will so 
diminish the cost of education, as to afford its blessr- 



12 

ings to the son of the poor, as well as the rich man. 
These considerations, are such as must certainly com- 
mend it to the kindly feeling and patronage of all 
friends of mental and moral culture. 

To the religious public, other arguments may be of- 
fered in addition to those already used. Oglethorpe 
University, is to be under decided and permanent re- 
ligious influences. It has been commenced with ear- 
nest prayer to God. Before, however, proceeding to 
enlarge upon this topic, it may not be amiss to antici- 
pate the impression, that because this is a religious, it 
must therefore be a sectarian institution : true, its offi- 
cers, will be members of the Presbyterian church, and 
from this cause, that wherever there are divisions as to 
denominationa,! views among the oincers of literary 
institutions, government is embarrassed in its opera- 
tions. It is upon this principle that the Methodist de- 
nomination in Virginia, South and North Carolina, and 
Georgia have, with laudable zeal, established Randolph 
Macon College in Virginia. Whilst the offi.cers of the 
College at Midvv^ay.will be Presbyterians, the privileges 
of the institution will be free to all. It v*'ill occupy 
the same position in this regard with Yale and Prince- 
ton Colleges. They were founded for the same pur- 
poses, on the same principles and by the same denomi- 
nation : yet every one is aware, that many of our 
most distinguished men, of every diversity of religious 
opinion, have been educated at one or the other of the 
above-named institutions. 

We recur from this digression to the urging of the 
claims of Oglethorpe University, upon religious men, 
especial of the Presbyterian denomination. 

The destitutions of the Southern Church are most 
-deplorable. The Presbytery of Hopewell, has under 
its care forty churches, vrhile it is composed of twenty 
two ministers, five of whom are engaged in instructing 
youth, thus showing more than half of the churches 
within its bounds, to be without the ministry of the gos- 



pel. This Presbytery we presume to be a fair exam- 
ple of the state of the church within the limits of the 
synod. In the entire State of Georgia, comprising 
within its territory, a population of more than 500,000 
persons, there are not more than fifty ministers of the 
Presbyterian order actually engaged in the work of 
the ministry, making a proportion of one to every ten 
thousand. 

The supply of the ministry connected with other 
evangelical denominations is entirely inadequate to 
meet the pressing wants of so many immortal beings. 

We look over the field, wide almost beyond mea- 
surement, which spreads itself to the view^; it is white 
to the harvest, yet aJas, the laborers are few. We hear 
the anxious cry of the awakened sinner, what must I do 
to be saved ? Yet where are the men to point such to 
the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the 
world ! We beheld the current of iniquity sweeping 
steadily over the land, and where are those who shall 
breast its fury, and stay its course, that the waters of 
life may come in to cleanse the people from their sins? 
The heart of the believer bleeds, as his eye wanders 
almost hopelessly, over such scenes of spiritual deso- 
lation. So long as things retain their present aspect, 
no remedy presents itself to his mind. Our Theologi- 
cal Seminary remains with its former scanty number. 
Time, the destroyer, together with removals to other 
scenes of labor, are rapidly thinning the ranks of those 
who now preach the gospel of peace. 

These truths are the more saddening when contrast- 
ed with ^ngs as they are among our brethren of the 
North. They walk in light, while thick darkness 
broods over us. Their Theological Seminaries are 
crowded with candidates for the gospel ministry ; their 
pulpits are filled ; their churches multiply ; they send 
missionaries of the cross even to the far-oflf heathen. 
Why this diiference ? Not because there is less piety 
in the Southern church; not because we have propor- 



14 

tionably fewer young men ; but because we have notf 
as they have, such institutions as Amherst, Dartmouth^ 
Middlebury and Princeton Colleges. 

Those seminaries of learning, founded by the bene- 
factions of the Church, have been signally blessed of 
God. The spirit in its converting, sanctifying influ- 
ences, has rested upon them. Their young men have 
been brought to a knowledge of the Saviour; their 
immature piety, has been cherished by the prayers and 
personal exertions of faithful, godly instructors ; they 
have devoted themselves to the w^ork of the ministry ; 
they have fed the flock of Christ at the North ; and 
when w^e in the South, were without any to care for 
our souls, they, in the spirit of the gospel, came to us ; 
and the Presbyterian Church in Georgia, at this day 
owes, under God, its name and existence to their faith- 
ful labors amongst us. In our whole State, there are 
but six native ministers of our denomination ; for al- 
most all the rest we are indebted to revivals of religion 
in the above-mentioned institutions. 

The lesson then taught us is obvious. Is it our de- 
sire to occupy a similarly happy position with the Nor- 
thern church ? We must pursue a similar mode of 
conduct in order to attain this desirable end. It is sur- 
prising to know how large a proportion of the ministry 
at the North, have received their first serious impres- 
sions during their collegiate course, and before gradua- 
tion, through the faithful counsel which has been ad- 
dressed them, have determined to become heralds of 
the cross. If we would increase our ministry, we must 
have a literary institution, whose officers shall be men 
of one mind ; men, able and desirous to cultivate the 
moral powers of the soul, as well as skilfully to train the 
faculties of the mind ; and for which the prayers of the 
church shall constantly and ardently ascend to heaven. 
If we can learn aught from the past providence of God 
we may humbly indulge the hope, that an institution 
founded upon such principles, and with such results in 



15 

View, will be blessed with revivals of religion, and thus 
our ministry be increased, and the destitutions of our 
Church be supplied. The Committee would earnestly 
invite the attention of the Christian public to this sub- 
ject. Let them look to the difference between the 
North and South, in regard to the increase in the minis- 
try ; let them seek to assign a cause for this immense 
disproportion, and we are convinced that their minds 
must be brought inevitably and irresistibly to the con- 
clusion, as the minds of the Committee have been, that 
our great deficiency is the want of such an Institution 
as Oglethorpe University, with the blessing of God,^ 
must eventually become. 

To the friends of the Theological Seminary at Co- 
lumbia, the successful establishment of the proposed 
College must be an object of great interest. What 
has been the chief obstacle to the success of that 
Seminary ? Not a deficiency in funds ; it is now well 
and permanently endowed. Not a want of able offi- 
cers ; the professors of that seminary, we are proud to 
say, will bear comparison with any in the land ; it ha^ 
besides, a strong hold upon the affections of the lar^ 
gest portion of our church within the bound^of the t 
synod. The grand difficulty is the want of asufficien- "** ' 
cy of students ; its numbers have scarcely increased 
since its first existence. The reason of which appears 
clearly to be, that it has no literary institution, which 
may be considered as a feeder to it. Such, howevery 
will be the relation of our University to it, if the pre- 
sent effort prove successful. The interests of both in- 
stitutions are then one, their friends are common, they 
are equally the hope of the Church in South-Carolina 
and Georgia. 

On these several grounds, the Committee would 
earnestly yet respectfully solicit, from the friends o(* 
religion and literature throughout the country, their ^ 
support and co-operation in the establishment of Ogle- 
thorpe University. 




u 

They pass without delay to the consideration of 
another topic ; the propriety of the selected site of the 
College. The public are aware, that this point was 
decided, by the Presbytery of Hopewell at, its last 
meeting, by the choice of Midway, near Milledgeville. 
This choice of a location is sustained by the following 
reasons : 1st. The spot selected is decidedly healthy. 
The public are referred to the opinions of three intel- 
ligent physicians, which opinions were given in answer 
to some enquiries from the Committee on this subject. 

Gentlemen^ — Your letter has just been received, re- 
questing me to state my opinion, respecting the health 
of the contemplated site of the College. lean say that 
from the experience of many years, there is no situa- 
tion in this part of the country, that has enjoyed more 
health, and where the inhabitants have been more free 
from fever. I am therefore of opinion, that a more de- 
sirable situation could not be obtained in this part of 
the State. 

C. J. PAINE. 

I have lived about twelve years in Milledgeville, and 
I^P^^ I dorat this time remember, that I have ever seen any 
case of bilious fever in the vicinity of the Manual La- 
bor School, except one, which occurred soon after my 
settlement in this place. 

B. A. WHITE. 

Dr. Fort in a letter to the same committee, after 
having made seme statements in regard to the town of 
Milledgeville, speaks thus, in reference to that region 
of country in which the College is to be placed : 

*' Immediately belov/ the granite range above spoken 

of, is a narrow strip of country, based on a rock of a 

y _ poros or camerated structure, covered with a layer of 

*^ clay and sand variously blended, and yielding a soil of 

moderate fertility, broken into small and detached por- 



/^ /hri^Mn^ ^^ Cr4M^%m /^ ^T^- 



11 

fipns by the operation of secondary causes on the pe- 
culiar substratum of the land. This substratum is . 
composed of G reiss, a rock almost always lying on (^ h^^^* 
the outside of granite, but here so thick as to form a 
region every way peculiar and perhaps unprecedented 
•elsewhere in the geology of the earth. This region 
commences immediately below Milledgeville, and is at 
this point above six miles in width. The character of 
the soil and substratum of this narrow region of coun- 
try, secures to it the best drainage, the purest atmos- 
phere, and the purest water which is known to me. 
The inhabitants enjoy an entire exemption from inter- 
mittent or bilious fevers. My professional experience 
and observation of this interesting region of country, 
enables me to say that any number of families may be 
so located on it, as to pass from age to age, without 
ever suffering the slightest attack of those diseases, and 
I know many places where forty years experience bear^ 
out the assertion. Such I have no doubt is the char- 
acter of this region from the falls of the Potomac to 
the falls of the Chatahoochee. 

On the upper margin of this region, stands Midway, 
which has only of late assumed a name, but on which 
I have for twenty years witnessed the rise of a gradual- 
ly increasing population. They have enjoyed health 
in every way satisfactory. A perfect security from 
chills cannot be warranted to those settling too near 
Fishing Creek ; but amongst those who have resided 
on ground as well selected as that now occupied by 
the labor school, (the site of the college,) I should not 
feai' to warrant a perpetual exemption. This exemp- 
tion has heretofore been so great, that in the years in 
which bilious fever, seemed a ganeral epidemic, and 
from that to the present day, three slight cases only 
have been witnessed by me. No death or apparent 
danger from this disease has ever occurred at Midwar. 

TOMI.INSON FORT, 



18 

The testimony of gentlemen whose medical repu- 
tation is so well established in the State, is certainly 
sufficient to convince the public, that the choice of 
Midway, so far as health is concerned, has been a 
judicious one. 

2d. It is central to the State of Georgia. Situated 
as it were, in the very heart of the State, it is more 
easy of access, than any other place in it; lines of 
stages, passing directly in its vicinity from all quarters 
of the country. 

3d. It is most convenient to that large and popu- 
lous region occupying the south-western part of Geor- 
gia. From that region but few young men have hi- 
therto received a collegiate education ; the reason as- 
signed is, that no institution was within their reach. 
Oglethorpe University bituated near them, will proba- 
bly receive its largest pecuniary aid and the greatest 
number of its students from that section. 

4th. It is central to the Southern States. It is the 
point to which facilities of approach are greatest from 
North and South Carolina, Alabama, Tenessee, and 
the Territory of Florida. If the College succeeds ac- 
cording to the expectation of its founders, it will draw 
students from all of those states. 

An objection has been raised to the location, from 
its proximity to the seat of government.' It would have 
been in the power of the Presbytery to have situated 
the institution farther from Milledgeville, but this they 
would not do, for the following reason. A college, if 
placed at a distance from a town, will speedily create 
one around it. It was deemed most advisable to se- 
lect a spot, about two miles from Milledgeville, because 
it was not too far off for the students to provide them- 
selves with necessary articles at the stores in that place, 
while it was too near to render it an object for any one 
to erecta store in the immediate vicinity of the insti- 
tution. More effectually to prevent this latter result, 
a provision has been inserted in the charter which. 



i9 

renders it impossible to establish aay trading house 
within two miles of the college. 

I'he Committee are of opinion, that the objection 
which they are considering, arises from an erroneous 
impression as to the state of morals in the seat of gov- 
ernment. With the exception of two months in the 
year, w hen an influx of strangers brings with it deplo- 
rable immorality, the town is as free from vice, as ihe 
larger portion of towns of the same size. The evils in- 
cident to the particular period alluded to, might be ob- 
viated, by making as would most naturally occur, that 
season, the time of the winter vacation. 

The state of morals does not depend so much on 
location, as upon the disciphne exercised. A compa- 
ny of 3^oung men in a desert, unless the watchful eye, 
and the restraining arm of government be upon them, 
will devise the ways and ^means of vice. Taking all 
things into consideration, the Committee believe that 
the choice of Midway as the site of Oglethorpe Univer- 
sity, was the best which could have been made. 

The reasons which have induced the effort to estab- 
lish the college at Midway, and the propriety of the 
selected location have been considered ; one other to- 
pic remains to be discussed, and the duty of the com- 
mittee is ended. 

Granting the truth of all that has been said above, 
the question may arise, whether upon calculations of 
sober reason, a scheme so vast is practicable. The 
founders of thecollege, of course, have made this a mat- 
ter of serious and thorough investigation ; their delibe- 
rate opinion is, that it can be done. True, the accom- 
plishment will require labor, w ill be attended with diffi- 
culty. But he who at this day, shrinks from the dis- 
charge of duty, because difficulties attend it, should 
have lived years ago, he is behind the spirit of the 
times. But to the discussion of the question of prac- 
ticability. 

1st. Can a sufficient number of students J)e obtained ;' 



t20 

To this it may be replied, literary institutions, lu 
themselves create students. From the peculiar faver- 
abJeness of the location, Oglethorpe University will cafl 
forth many young man in the adjacent counties, to re- 
ceive the advantages of collegiate education, who oth- 
erwise would have been forever excluded from them. 
There are in the immediate vicinity of Midway, be- 
tween five and six thousand young men, between fif- 
teen and twenty years of age. Of this number a con- 
siderable proportion, from local considerations, may 
become students at that place. From an extensive 
correspondence, and personal enquiry throughout the 
State, no doubt is left upon the mind, that Georgia a- 
lone will furnish a respectable number of students. 

Again, there is no college of the kind, proposed., 
^outh of the Potomac. It is the design of the Boards 
if indefatigable efforts can accomplish it, to rear up an 
institution, which shall compare well, with any in the 
Union. To such an one, occupying a central position 
to all the south, the attention of southern christians, 
especially of our denomination, must be turned. It is 
but a rational belief, that from the southern states 
generally, the students of our University will be drawn. 
Let the requisite funds be raised and an able faculty 
provided, and there can be no difficulty in regard to 
students. 

But can the requisite funds be raised ? As the re- 
sult of past enquiry, it is believed that in Georgia, from 
130 to 150,000 dollars will be subscribed before the 
next meeting of the Board. This sum in itself will be 
sufficient to commence the operations of the college. 

The state of Georgia, has endowed a Professorship 
in the Theological Seminary in Columbia, South Car- 
ohna. From v»^hat has been learned by conversation 
with gentlemen from that State, and from the known 
liberality of its citizens, we are convinced that they will 
ho .prompt to return the favor !a hind a:nd degre:^-. 



T'he Territory of Florida, is much interested in thi? 
success of the measure proposed, and expectations are 
raised of considerable aid from that quarter. 

It will be atempted to induce, upon the part of the 
whole south, connected directly or indirectly with the 
Presbyterian church, a concentratien of its enorgies 
upon this, as a great central Institution, to which their 
sons may be sent, to be educated with the principles 
and habits of the people among whom they are to live 
and act. 

The Board have authorised one of their Agents, the 
Rev. S. K. Talmage, to solicit funds in the northern 
states, believing that, as our brethren of the north have 
received largly from the south, in the endowment of 
their institutions — they are prepared at this period of 
unexampled prosperity, to aid us in an undertaking, 
which must result in good, for time and eternity to the 
country in general. Mr. Talmage will proceed at 
once on his mission to the north. 

The churches in the states of South Carolina, as- 
sembled in their several judicatories,has spoken in most 
encouraging language to the immediate friends of the 
college. The Presbyteries of Flint river and Georgia 
and the Synod of South Carolina%nd Georgia, have 
passed unanimous resolutions in favor of the undertak- 
ing. The church in the two states, stands as it were>, 
pledged to go on with the work — and when her voice 
has spoken, shall her hand refuse to act ? Never. — 
Summoning up all her energies, she will go on to a, 
glorious consummation of^solve, pregnant with con- 
sequences, ceaseless in their duration and widening ia 
their salutary influences, with the lapse of years. 

We appeal then, in conclusion, to the patriot. WilJ 
he withhold his aid in the creation of a University, 
which shall redound to the honor of the state and the 
whole south, and which open-handed, shall dispense 
mental light to those now setting in darkness,and mor- 
al principle to those, around whom the wickedness oi 



this life has already cast its snares — which knowing no 
respect of persons, shall instruct the many poor, as 
well as the few rich ; which shall widely diffuse that 
intelligence, for want of which, we, as a people, have 
suffered and bled at every pore ? 

We appeal lo the Christian. Cousin, the French 
philosopher, by no means blindly partial to Christiani- 
ty, affirms in his unequalled report, that learning must 
be indissolubly united with religion, or the former can- 
not flourish. In the whole south, save the Methodist 
college in Virginia, we have no college founded upon 
this principle. Others are state institutions, in which 
in the nature of the case, such a principle cannot 
operate. 

We call earnestly upon the christian public ibr 
their support. Let the wants of our seminary — let the 
state of our churches — let the destitution of the land 
be considered, and that support, weare convinced, will 
be freely rendered. 

Let no one say the undertaking is too large ; the 
greater the glory of its accomplishment. Let no one 
say a failure will be disastrous ; so is the sin of neg- 
lecting duty. 

We feel, and i# is a rock beneath our feet, that the 
hand of God is in this matter. He is withus, and whom 
shall we fear — of what shall we be afraid. We seek to 
advance no private interests ; we labor for no pecunia- 
ry emolument; our end is the cultivation of mind, 
that most glorious structure of the heavenlyArchitect — 
mind, created to use its lofty powers in the study of his 
character, and in the praise of his mercies, unfatigued 
throughout eternity. Our end is the cultivation of the 
heart — the heart unregenerate, a nest of vipers, regen- 
erate, the temple of the living God. What objects more 
desirable ? What ends more worthy of attainment ? 
Laboring for such purposes, we look with humble con- 
fidence, to HIM, the source of unerring wisdom for 



S£«l 



guidance in our work, and to his smiles, lor support 
when difficulty and disappointment might otherwise 
fright us from our duty. 

€. W. HOWARD, 

Chairman of the Committee. 



BOARD OF TRVSTEES OI* 

Misiisters. 

T. GoFLWNG, t>, D. S. J. Cassels, 

S. K. Talmage, R. Quarterman, 

C. W. Howard, J. C. Pattbrson;^ 

S. S. Davis, C. C. Jones. 
H. S. Pbatt, 



liaymen. 

S. Rockwell, A. AlexandbJ^, 

J, ^-. CuTHBERTj W. POE, 

R. K. HiNEs, J. H. Howard,, 

C> G. MiLLs, J. Billups, 

B. E. Hand, W. W. Holt, 

C. P. Gordon, T. Fort, 

J. H. LuMPKiNy T. B. KiNOc 
E» A. Nesbst, 



OFFICKKS 4>F THE BOABIIO^ 

Rev. T. GOULDING, President. 
R. K. HINES, Esq Sec. 4» Treas, 

Executive Committee, — S. Rockwell, Chairmaiii T. Fort, J* H. 
Howard, J. A. Cuthbert, C. C. Mills. 

Agtnts of the Board — Rev. S, K. Talmage, andC. W. Howard. 

All Communications on th« subject of the Unirersity, must b« ad- 
dressed to R. K. HiNES, Esq. Sec. & Treasurer. 

MIBIVAY SE»I1J¥ARY» 

This Institution is now under the car© of the Trustees of Oglethorpe 
University, and they aro prepared to make full previsions for the re- 
ception of a large number of students during the next year. The 
next term of this Institution will commence on the first Monday in 
January. The Rev. Mr. Bsmait, the Principal, will be assisted by 
Mr. Meade, receutly teacher of the Mount Zion Academy ; and if 
the number o** Scholars require it, other assistants will be provided. 



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